Proper earth grounding has become increasingly important with increased use of electronic equipment in residences and businesses. Electronic and computer equipment are continuously upgraded and require better grounding to eliminate production problems. In fact, proper earth grounding is needed to reduce or eliminate static charge build-up and power surges, including those from lightning, which can cause power failures, damage electronic equipment, or otherwise creates costly and inconvenient problems.
Although it is generally recognized that grounding rods are preferable to methods such as using the water supply line, there is often little understanding regarding how deep grounding rods must be for a particular location. This can result in installing grounding rods at insufficient depths which fail to adequately reduce or eliminate static charge build-up and power surges, and further provide adequate grounding. In addition, due to a lack of understanding regarding how deep grounding rods must be for a particular location, especially considering the all the different types of sub-terrain materials resulting in different electrically conductivity, often times engineers and electricians fail to properly diagnose insufficient grounding as the problem.
Where grounding rods are installed, grounding rods are generally installed by one of four methods, with all of these methods operator personal safety is a prevailing concern.
According to a first method, a truck mounted power driver may be used. There are several problems with such a method. First, there needs be proper accessibility at the site for this type of large equipment. In addition, there may be availability issues for such equipment and the use of such equipment is often costly.
According to a second method, a commercial driver may be used which is generally a variation of the post driver. A third method is to construct tools that resemble fence post drivers or shortened sledge hammers. A fourth method is to use sledge hammers. These methods are not easy to use, labor intensive, and time consuming. Furthermore, these methods entail exposing the operator to varying degrees of danger. For example, with the third and fourth methods, the operator must position him/herself above the ground at the height of the rod. If a 10 foot rod is being driven into the ground, the operator must be able to access the top of the rod. This typically is done using a ladder and can be very dangerous as the operator is on a ladder trying to drive the rod into the earth. The installation process can be even more dangerous where a single operator without assistance of another is practicing these methods, which is typically is the case in the field as companies try to conserve resources, time, money and manpower. Needless to say, significant injury and even death has occurred on occasion where the operator has lost his/her balance and fallen upon the rod or been struck by the tool used to impact and drive the rod into the earth.
The combination of not understanding the proper depth for grounding rods in addition to the labor intensiveness of installing grounding rods tends to compound the problem of not providing sufficient deep earth grounding.
What is needed is an efficient and effective method, system and apparatus for deep earth grounding.
Therefore, it is a primary object, feature, or advantage of the present invention to improve over the state of the art.
It is a further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide state of the art methods, systems and apparatuses for deep earth grounding.
Another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide for effective deep earth grounding.
A still further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide an easy and safe method for driving deep grounding rods.
Yet another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide a driver for grounding rods which allows for safe and rapid installation.
A still further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide a method, system and equipment for deep earth grounding which allows for installing ground rods to a sufficient depth to assist in preventing grounding problems.
Yet another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide equipment to assist in deep earth grounding which is easy to maneuver, user friendly, and safe to operate and install ground rod.
A still further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide equipment which allows deep earth grounding to be performed by a single individual.
Another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide a method, system and equipment for deep earth grounding that accounts for the various types of earth in which the ground rod is installed.
These and/or other objects, features, or advantages of the present invention will become apparent. No single embodiment of the present invention need achieve all or any particular number of the foregoing objects, features, or advantages.